September 2022
8 billion in One, What is an Essential Figure?
What makes us, us? Even through our wildest differences, we are, for the time being all still the same. Genetically that is. Small epigenetic shifts apart, you and I are the same, as anyone you may point to in the world. And yet we are at the tail end of this commonality. For a hundred thousand years, ever since we evolved from Homo Erectus, we have been generally the same. Of course, there are obvious differences once you jump to the next degree. Thousands of languages, millions of genetic qualities, varied beliefs and perceptions of the word, but even all of these differences are small in comparison with how similar we are as a species. Our environment throughout this hundred thousand years has been relatively stable, the arc of technology for the bulk of it- also a relatively steady curve. But now, in 2022, we are at the end of our own history, and the essential is about to fundamentally change.
The whirlwind of contemporary culture seems to be accelerating in parallel with both its technology and methods of distribution. This ever increasing pace seems to create an environment of both perpetual nostalgia, and boundless anxiety of what will be next. Historically, there was a cycle to history and macro behavior, now that cycle, once a relatively stagnant shape in space, seems to have a velocity to itself. The cycle is an wheel, which roles along an endless plane of technological development and changing world conditions. Where as before, the foundation of what that cycle stood on, moved so glacially as not to be a factor. The space between the advent of the printing press (1436) and the camera (1816), provided enough time for there not to have a dramatic feedback loop from the presence of technology or environment. While the freak earthquake or usage of technology by a new group may obviously prove an exception, this cycle from boom to bust played out of it’s own volition. There was relative stability for the cycle of history to roll within, creating a macro continuity within the act of capturing and distributing reality. Yet today, the distance between the advent of the internet ( 1983) and the advent of the iphone (2007) provides equally varied contrast in capacity in a fraction of the time. The other dimension of the plane which the cycle of history, (conveniently labeled here as “ the wheel”) introduces an escape velocity which humanity has set in motion, and can no longer contained. Therefore, the foundation which the wheel rolls forward on, will contribute to the outcome of where each spoke lands. The foundation, now filled with accelerating advents in technology and environment will precipitously change outcome. Where as before artists had a 400 year period to react to the voice of technology and the varied perspectives it provides, now creators have mere decade or two. Compile onto this, the changing climate of our earth, the overton window of acceptability, the ever increasing echos between that technological foundation and our perception of reality, and what we have is a cycle on a rocky treadmill that is accelerating daily. While the leap between printing press and camera was a fundamental shift, the humanity had hundreds of years for it’s perception of self and perception to change. Today, we are ruled by the velocity of Moore’s law, rather than a master of our mediums. No longer is the medium the message, the medium dictates what we can say, what we can see, and how we can react to it. Over the last few years we have become increasingly beholden to machine learning technology. These are systems which learn from themselves. Every input refines, the perception of the next input, and the results which determine the next output- which we then see as the most ‘truthful’ representation of that inquiry. The ghost in the machine, in other words, is now learning from our every action. Yet, on this accelerating treadmill of foundational change, we are genetically the same. Leaving aside small epigenetic shifts, humans have remained- for lack of a better word, human for a hundred thousand plus years. We may in many ways be the last of our original species. A hip replacement quickly becomes a synthetic organ, or a dependence of a device for memory. So it is my belief that we exist at the end of a biological era, and at the start of a synthetic adaptation in order to keep up with the pace of change we have created. Therefore, this begs the question: What is essentially us? Leaving the exploration of consciousness aside, and staying with the definition of human- as strictly an object in a perceptual lens- what shape- both physically and mentally defines 8 billion people as one little prog on the Cambrian tree? When we look back- what is our common denominator of form? What assembly of shapes and attributed sends off alarm bells in the visual cortex to say this object is human? Because after a hundred thousand years of evolution, there is a pattern matching that is triggered subconsciously we an eye hears a voice or sees a human form, it clicks and know it is authentic or inauthentic. So, given the paradigm shift in the foundation of our reality is eminent- given that we are now started to be fooled by the artificial, what is the memory of our species before we merged with this existential force of technology in order to survive?
These questions and fundamental in the creation of the essential figure series. I want to create forms that are at the tail end of human perception from the organic era. If cave paintings began a tradition of self reflection, of observing our nature and storytelling in order to make sense of chaos, then I want to help summarize that journey. The senses can be increasingly fooled, as we find multitudes of ways to trick the black box of our brain, but instinct- at least presently, seems irreplaceable when it comes to determining truth. Yet we are a relic of a species, when matched with the capacity of our creation. So in this series I have searched for the bare minimum viable form. The totally of flesh and blood and a conscious experience that thousands of years of reflection have remarked upon. This is not in thinking I am the most qualified human to summarize this experience in the least- but because I have experienced my own changing of perception the more that I integrate with the digital tools around me. While some artists have chosen to make digital sketches and react to them in an analog way as a commentary of this change, I do not believe these reactions are sufficient. When comment on the next iteration of material, when you can attempt to address the impact that it’s totality has had own our own perception of our species. With general AI on the horizon, us waiting with baited breath at it’s arrival- think of our subservience to our creations. If artificial intelligence is emergent from some sort of complexity, and we feed into this complexity daily, fueling its fly-wheel, then we are commenters on this human experience are simply passive in this transformation. We remember a species by it’s aggregate form. It’s common denominator, the universally imprinted symbol of self. So in ones more general experience, in ones most general perception exists the whole of humanity. So as the iphone (2007) becomes the metaverse (2021) and the metaverse is influenced by googles open AI (2022) who will document the last of what made us human, before we no longer know it’s contributing factors, and before the common memory can be fooled by a synthetic form.
While the Turing test currently extends to consciousness, it is my hope that these essential figures, serve as a final Turing test of what has made us, us for the past hundred thousand years. The essential figures will hopefully not only be a marker of a species, but also a continuous reminder to be wary the shifting ground beneath us.